Lost Art Press

New in Store: Lost Art Press Chore Coat

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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You can now place a pre-production order for our chore coat via this link. The coat is $185, which includes domestic shipping.

Before you order a coat, please follow these simple instructions for determining the best size for you. We have enough material for about 300 coats and will place our order with the manufacturer based on the orders we receive. Stitching is supposed to begin in March, and we will ship out the coats as soon as they arrive in our warehouse.

Offering these chore coats is a significant gamble. The profit margins are low because we wanted this coat to be as affordable as possible. And we strove to make our coat a classic – nicely tailored and as well made as our books.

We understand book manufacturing, which is dang tricky. But we’re still learning a lot about clothing manufacturing, which seems even trickier.

So we might completely fail here. But at least John and I will get some nice coats, and we’ll have lots of gorgeous cotton fabric we can use as animal bedding.

— Christopher Schwarz

26 thoughts on “New in Store: Lost Art Press Chore Coat”

  2. Just take all my money.

    I showed this to my girlfriend and explained how it was being made, and she told me I have to get it. She went to school for clothing design and works with a lot of small clothing makers, and thinks everything about this coat is extremely reasonable. For what it’s worth to anyone on the fence. Both my parents were tailors at one point, and I have to agree.

    1. 100% — my wife too is a fashion design major and her main specialty when she was in the industry was technical design, so she’d agree with your girlfriend that this price for this coat is an incredible value. (She left the industry because, sorry, it is a vapid rat race of really difficult people, but hey, YMMV.)

  3. For now, books and tools are winning, but if it is a success, (and I have to believe that it will be), perhaps I can get one in the coming year. Very best of luck with this gamble.

  6. If I lived in America I would buy one.
    Well done for trying chaps, hope it all works out. The books are great.

  7. I ordered mine this morning. 🙂
    My only trepidation was with the size. I did the measuring exercise on a jacket and shirt I like the fit of and I think I fall between the XL and XXL based on the size chart. Most of my clothing is from Carhartt which I believe is vanity sized — so for most Carharrt T-shirts by them I am a L, and sweatshirts and jackets XL, but for other regular brands I’m an XL. I’m 6′-1.5″ and 240lbs and have big shoulders. Any time I’ve bought XXL its always too big. Given the Chore coat is based on a French pattern (and not a full figured American woodworker) I figured I’d rather be a bit loose as opposed to too tight when working at the bench went for the XXL.
    Let’s hope I chose correctly and and it doesn’t look like a dress on me. My primary shop apron has seen better days and will hopefully get retired soon.

  8. I really like the coat and appreciate the sizing information—I expect to buy one👍
    Two questions(which others may also have): Any info on expected shrinkage? Is the coat
    lined, or is it single fabric thickness?
    Best wishes and keep up the great work,
    Rick

    Sent from my iPad

    1. Hi all – This fabric is not pre-shrunk. The best old chore coats are the most beat up ones, so we recommend just letting this get a patina and not washing it. If you HAVE to wash it to get the cat pee/baby goo/rotten hide glue out, please spot clean or get it dry cleaned. We haven’t done any wash testing on this piece and it would likely shrink funny.

      That means: Just order the size that checks out as described here: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2018/02/16/how-to-buy-the-right-size-chore-coat/

      1. Can you provide photos on a person? It is really hard to judge clothing when it is just laying on a table.

      2. This is, I’m sure, and ignorant question — but can’t the (unrolled) bolt of fabric be pre-washed in some sort of industrial-sized washing machine (like at prisons and hospitals)?

        It seems like there’s some sort of analogy between non-preshrunk fabric and green woodworking: can’t one just “season” the cloth?

        –GG

  10. Really happy to have gotten my order through. This is the first time I have been late where the limited run item was not sold out in the first hour.

  12. I won’t lie – I laughed out loud when you posted about the jacket the first time. I thought you had maybe sniffed a bit too much paint thinner. The idea of dressing like a dead frenchman standing behind a bench named after one struck me as funny. That said, now that I see the coat I really like it. I won’t wear it in the shop. I run hot. I keep my shop set to 55F and work in a t-shirt and shorts. But it is the kind of light jacket I like to wear outside on those chicago winter days when I need more than a sweater (seriously. Like I said, I run hot).

  13. This is difficult to gauge as it’s a new item for most (I’ve never heard of a chore coat before) and it’s difficult to tell what mobility is like wearing one. Maybe do a video with Tom wearing his?

    1. I think mobility will be fine. Although it looks kind of like a sport coat, it is actually more like a shirt. It is unlined and unstructured, unlike most suit coats / sport coats which have structure sewn into them to help keep their shape. Expensive jackets have horse hair sewn in; cheap ones have a panel of canvas glued in between the layers of fabric. That structure is what restricts the movement of a cheap suit. (I know all of this because I wear a suit more than I like and I spent too much time, before the internet was useful, researching why some jackets were more comfortable than others).

      This jacket is nothing like that, it is really more like a flannel shirt but sewn into the shape of a jacket.

  16. In light of your newfound experiences in the garment industry, the difficulty you had in sizing these, and the pride you seem to take in them, it seems to me you may owe Bespokus an apology.

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